Come What May
by Skye Rocket
Summary: When he's finally found a serious relationship, a force more powerful than love threatens it...*A Joey Story*
1. Default Chapter

Come What May  
  
Skye Rocket  
  
Disclaimer: Yeah, sure. I own NONE of the Friends. I own nothing. I wish I owned Matthew Perry. God save me.  
  
Oh, and the song from the end is from the movie Moulin Rouge. But you knew that, right? Ah well.  
  
A/N: Uh oh. I'm doing it again! I am writing another serious fic. What's wrong with me? [wails] OK, OK, I'm all right. Well, this idea came to me the other night. I don't know how, I don't know why. Lack of sleep is a killer. Oh well, enjoy. May be a little OOC, but that's OK…?  
  
And it has been brought to my attention that some of the medical facts aren't right. So I'm changing it a little bit.  
  
*~*Prologue*~*  
  
Marian wasn't like the countless other women that Joey Tribiani had dated. She wasn't as attractive as a model. She wasn't pencil thin. She didn't go to the nail salon once a week. She wore hardly any makeup. She had chubby cheeks and a big smile. She had graduated from college and was an interior designer.  
  
But still, they were inseparable. They lived together, and Joey's friends often called them "engaged to be engaged." Everyone expected them to be together forever. At first no one had suspected things to last long. But they had been proved wrong when it blossomed into something more.  
  
It had all started when Phoebe met her when she had gone to an antique store and both fought over an antique rocking chair. Somehow they had become friends, and Phoebe brought her to meet the gang. Joey and Marian had hit it off immediately.  
  
And now, 5 months later, Joey was more in love than he had ever been with anyone. He had found hard to believe himself. But for the first time that he could remember, he was serious about someone.  
  
Marian loved Joey more than anything. She hadn't had many boyfriends before him. He was so sweet and caring to her. She didn't care that he was known as a womanizer to his friends. She knew that he'd never do anything to hurt her.  
  
*-*-*-*-*-*-*  
  
"Joey," Marian said as the two of them sat on his couch, watching TV. She had no idea where to begin, much less what his reaction was going to be.  
  
"Mmhmm?" Joey asked, eyes focused on the TV and holding her hand in his.  
  
"I've got to tell you something," she said hesitantly. He turned to her and looked into her hazel eyes.  
  
"Is everything okay?" he asked worriedly. She wanted desperately to lie to him, to pretend everything was bluebirds and roses. Marian knew that she had to tell him the truth, no matter how much it might hurt him.  
  
"Joey, I'm dying," she said, trying to be gentle about it. The words fell on their ears like heavy weights. That cheerful look that had been on Joey's face was wiped away like writing on a chalkboard. His expression was hard to read. It registered shock, anguish and pain at the same time. Marian's heart sank in her chest like a faulty ocean liner. Just looking at him made her heart shatter into a billion pieces every second.  
  
"No," he said hoarsely. He repeated the one syllable over and over again. Marian was in agony. Seeing Joey sitting there shaking like a leaf in a windstorm was torture. Tears laced down his cheeks like runaway rivers. Marian wrapped her arms around him. He buried his head in her shoulder.  
  
"Marian," he sobbed hoarsely. "I can't lose you. You're the one I want to spend the rest of my life with!"  
  
"I know, I know," she whispered softly, running her hands through his hair. "It'll be all right." But she couldn't be sure. Marian had no idea what would happen down the road.  
  
"I'll be there for you," Joey whispered into her shoulder. Her tears fell like rain into his dark hair. For the first time since she had met Joey she felt helpless, alone and depressed. Marian felt that her life was spinning out of control, like a car with the driver asleep at the wheel.  
  
"It's gonna be all right, sweetheart," she sniffed, her chin resting on the top of his hair.  
  
"I love you," Joey said, and Marian heard his voice shaking. She felt like a mother comforting a small child after a nightmare. Joey was no child, but he and Marian's world had just been shaken up and turned upside down, like a snow globe.  
  
Joey was in a nightmare. The love of his life was going to be ripped from his life cruelly. How could things like that happen? What had he done wrong?  
  
"What's the matter?" he managed to croak. Marian sighed softly.  
  
"My liver is failing. If I can't get a of someone else's liver, I'll die," she said. Die. It sounded so final. But it was. Once she was dead, they wouldn't see each other. It wasn't that Marian didn't believe that they'd meet again someday if she passed on. In the back of her head she couldn't help thinking that it was too long for her to wait.  
  
"I'll help you. I'll do it. I'll do *anything* that will keep you here. Just tell me when," he said fiercely. Marian looked into his eyes.  
  
"It doesn't exactly work that way, Joey," she said. "But if you're a match, then I would be eternally gratefully to you." Joey put a soft kiss on her lips.  
  
"Then that's what we'll do," he murmured.  
  
--*--  
  
"Joey, you and Marian have been pretty quiet tonight," Ross observed at Monica and Chandler's apartment that night.  
  
"Yeah, is everything all right?" Rachel asked, her baby in her arms. Joey and Marian glanced at each other and shifted uncomfortably.  
  
"Wait a minute!" Monica cried. "You're not…"  
  
"No, no," Marian sighed. The other five looked anxiously at them.  
  
"Are you getting married?" Phoebe asked. Again, they shut their eyes and shook their heads. Joey took Marian's hand in his.  
  
"Umm," Marian began. She had already broken the news to one person she cared about that day. But two times in one day would be even more of a nightmare than it already was. But Joey broke in.  
  
"Marian is…" He paused hesitantly. "Marian's liver is failing and if she can't get a …" His voice cracked.  
  
"If I don't get a part of someone else's I'll die," she said, clutching Joey's hand as if holding on for dear life. Silence fell in the room. Joey's hand trembled, or maybe it was hers. Maybe it was both. Rachel's hand went to her mouth and her shoulders shook. Ross put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her to him.  
  
Chandler's mouth was slightly ajar. Monica's eyes had grown wide and she was trembling all over. They held to each other tightly and Chandler gave her a kiss on the cheek.  
  
Phoebe sat in the chair by herself, her arms wrapped around herself. Tears were already falling. Still, no one had said anything. The silence was deafening. Sometimes, silence is louder than words themselves.  
  
"We'll get tested to see if we're a match. All of us," Phoebe volunteered with the same tone in her voice that Joey had used.  
  
"Yeah. We will. We love you; it feels like we've known you forever," Rachel said, in tears. Everyone made agreeing noises.  
  
"Thanks, you guys. It means so much to me," Marian said.  
  
*-*-*-*-*-*  
  
The next day the seven friends all went to the hospital to see if one of them could help Marian. Soon the tests were finished. The doctor crowded them all into an exam room to deliver the news. Joey and Marian sat next to each other, his arm around her shoulder and hers around his waist.  
  
"I'm sorry, Ms. Thomas," the doctor said to Marian. "None of your friends are a match." The whole world stopped and lights went off in her brain. So that was it.  
  
"Oh," Marian said softly. That was all she could say. 'Don't cry, don't cry,' she silently willed herself.  
  
"Now, we can put you on a waiting list. But I must warn you, there are no guarantees," the doctor continued. The words fell on deaf ears.  
  
****  
  
"There's still a chance," Chandler was saying in the parking lot. "They'll find someone."  
  
"Don't you read romance novels, Chandler?" she cried desperately. "The heroine always dies. And that's what will happen to me!"  
  
"Come on, Marian, those are books," Ross said. "And Chandler probably has read romance novels. His mom writes them." Chandler shot Ross a dirty look.  
  
"It's OK, it's gonna be all right," Joey whispered into her ear.  
  
*-*-*-*-*-*  
  
That night the couple lay in bed. Marian's head rested on his chest, her hand above his heart. His arm was wrapped around her shoulder. Marian's eyes were closed and she looked peaceful, almost like she wasn't think about the nightmarish events that had unfolded in just two days.  
  
"Are you scared to die?" Joey asked, hoping not to upset her. She sighed.  
  
"Yeah, a little," Marian admitted reluctantly. She looked up at him. "I mean, I've had a good life. I just…there's so much out there that I haven't done yet. It just doesn't seem fair."  
  
"I know," Joey said softly. "I know. It isn't fair. But anything that you want to do that we can, we'll do it. I promise." Marian had never thought it possible. But Joey was beginning to show wisdom that she had never expected of him.  
  
He was having a tough time with this. Joey had finally become serious about someone. And there was a big chance that she would be gone before he knew it. He knew he had to be strong for her. But he knew that Marian might not be around for him always.  
  
"I love you," she whispered as she dozed off.  
  
"I love you too," Joey replied softly.  
  
-----  
  
The days turned into weeks. Marian got weaker and weaker. The rest of the group's hope started to dwindle away, slowly but surely. Marian began thinking more and more about what death and dying would be like. Joey stayed as true as possible to his promise and helped Marian to fulfill her last wishes.  
  
One day they went out for sushi. The weekend after that they stayed at a bed and breakfast. Marian and Joey went for a ride in a horse buggy around Central Park under a mound of blankets.  
  
They were having loads of fun. But in the back of Joey's mind there was always the possibility that this day would be Marian's last. He began having nightmares about her. He'd wake up sobbing like a small child and wouldn't be able to get back to sleep until she was able to talk him into it.  
  
It was as if everything he'd ever known had turned out to not be true. He was miserable when he realized how much he'd miss her, his one and only love.  
  
Monica was constantly sending over cookies and brownies. Chandler was kind enough to bring over a set of his mother's books after their conversation in the hospital parking lot, except the ones where 'the heroine dies.' Ross attempted to make things better by giving her fossils and explaining what they were. Rachel would bring home lots of fashion catalogues, and the four girls would spend hours poring over them. Phoebe bought lots of antiques for Marian.  
  
Most days Marian stayed in bed except for a few hours when she could get out of bed for a few hours. But some days she could venture down to Central Perk with Joey, or over to Monica and Chandler's. When Joey wasn't out at auditions, the couple spent every last moment together, talking and watching TV, and just being together.  
  
"They aren't going to find me a liver or anything in time, Joey," Marian said one day while she and Joey were sitting together.  
  
"Yes they are, honey!" he insisted. She sighed.  
  
"Joey, all I wanted was for us to be together forever. But I can see that that's no longer an option." Joey shook his head.  
  
"No. No. They're going to find you someone and you're going to be fine, and as soon as this whole thing is fine, we're going to get married. I swear," Joey insisted.  
  
"Oh, sweetie, we'll see, but I'm not so sure."  
  
*-*-*-*-*-*  
  
And the day finally came. One day Marian couldn't even sit up. Joey came home from his latest audition to find Marian still in bed.  
  
"Oh god," he cried. "No! Not today! You'll be fine!"  
  
"Oh, Joey," she said sadly. "It's too late." Tears fell like rain from the man's eyes.  
  
"No! No!" Joey shouted hysterically. She raised her hand up and took his in her grasp. Her hand was smaller than it had ever been in his and he held it delicately, as if it were a china cup that could shatter at the slightest pressure.  
  
"Joey," she said, trying to calm him. But it was at no avail. Marian closed her eyes and laid back. "It's time," she said, her voice a hint of a whisper.  
  
"I love you," he sobbed.  
  
"I love you too. I'll be with you forever. And we'll see each other again some day. I promise," she murmured. And that was it. The final flicker of the flame of Marian's life finally extinguished itself.  
  
Joey sank to his knees and sobbed over her.  
  
----  
  
It was a week later that Joey found the folded note on his bedside table. It was from her. In her scratchy handwriting, she had written:  
  
"My dearest Joey,  
  
Oh, I love you so much. There's so much I'd love to say, but I'm feeling so tired. I know that you're always going to wonder if there was something that you could do for me to stop this. But it would happen some day, sooner or later. And I will be with you every where you go. All the time. Just don't forget me, but try to move on.  
  
Love Always,  
  
Marian."  
  
The tears came back for the millionth time that week.  
  
---------------------------  
  
  
  
Never knew  
  
I could feel like this  
  
Like I've never seen the sky before  
  
Want to inside your kiss  
  
Every day I love you more and more  
  
Listen to my heart, can you hear it sing  
  
Telling me to give you everything  
  
Seasons may change  
  
Winter to spring  
  
But I'll love you  
  
Until the end of time  
  
Come what may  
  
Come what may  
  
I will love you  
  
Until my dying day  
  
Suddenly the world seems such a perfect place  
  
Suddenly it moves with such a perfect grace  
  
Suddenly my life doesn't seem such a waste  
  
It all revolves around you  
  
And there's no mountain too high  
  
No river too wide  
  
Sing out this song and I'll be there by your side  
  
Storm clouds may gather and storms may collide  
  
But I'll love you  
  
I'll love you  
  
Until the end of time  
  
Come what may  
  
Come what may  
  
I will love you until my dying day  
  
Oh come what may  
  
Come what may  
  
I will love you  
  
I will love you  
  
Suddenly the world seems such a perfect place  
  
Come what may  
  
Come what may  
  
I will love you until my dying day  
  
-------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
  
  
Ooook. What'd you think? This took me all day. Please review! I love reviews! And be nice. I actually think that I did a pretty good job. Or maybe it's just me. I'm always a little wary of creating new characters. Ah well. Tell me whatcha think! And sorry about the little inaccuracies, let me know if I fixed them.  
  
Until Then,  
  
Skye Rocket 


	2. Ten Years Later

Come What May  
  
by Skye Rocket  
  
Chapter Two  
  
Disclaimer: I don't attempt to claim ownership of Friends characters or anything else, which I do not own. But I bet you knew that. ^__^  
  
A/N: I originally intended this to be a one- parter kinda thing, but for some reason, I had some sort of idea for this newest chappy-ter (ahem, I mean chapter), so I hope it doesn't ruin the whole story for anybody. Have a nice reading experience.  
  
*---*---*---*  
  
10 YEARS LATER  
  
"Go hug your daddy," the fair-haired woman urged the two children. "You know how sad Daddy gets when he comes here." The two children nodded solemnly, temporarily wise beyond their six and eight years. Phoebe sighed wistfully as the two kids scurried off to comfort their daddy.  
  
Sometimes Phoebe hated bringing Joey here. It always depressed him for along time afterward, and Phoebe hated seeing him like that. She knew that he loved her, and she was happier than she had ever been without being married to him. But Phoebe knew that he still loved and missed Marion with all of his heart.  
  
Sometimes, Phoebe would lie awake at night wondering if her still loved Marion even more that he loved her. It wasn't that she doubted her marriage with Joey. And she couldn't help feeling guilty about it afterward. Phoebe knew that Joey considered Marion his first total love. It was like he forgot all of the other girls he had dated before Marion. And she knew that it was always really hard for him to even think about her, much less talk about her.  
  
Every once in awhile Joey would see something that reminded him of his lost love. He'd clam up and not talk to anyone, or he would erupt into violent, dry, racking sobs, and then Phoebe knew that Joey was beyond consoling by then. All that Phoebe had been able to do would be to just sit for hours and hold him, until he was exhausted from crying so much.  
  
The rest of the gang helped in their own ways directly after she had died. But for a year and a half, Joey refused to talk to anyone about Marion. But one day, he had just opened up, and to Phoebe. Somehow this triggered something, and they had clicked in a way that they never had. Marion's death had changed Joey into being quieter than he usually was. But gradually, Phoebe would see glimpses of the old Joey, like when the sun comes peeking through the clouds after a big rainstorm.  
  
And then one day, when Phoebe and Joey went out to dinner, he had asked her to marry him. They were married, and two years after, they had their daughter, Shelia. Phoebe had suggested Marion for a girl's name, but Joey wouldn't hear of it. And then two years after that, they had their son, Chester.  
  
Each year, on the anniversary of Marion and Joey's first date, the family visited Marion's grave. Chester and Shelia never really understood why Daddy got so sad every time they went there. Phoebe had thought that it was best to wait until they were older to explain it to them.  
  
Joey knelt in front of the stone, as he had each year for the past eight years. For the first two years afterward, Joey had refused to visit.  
  
"I miss you, Mar," he whispered softly, somehow hoping that Marion could hear him. A tear dripped slowly down his cheek, softly staining the petals of the peach roses he had brought for her. Marion's favorite flower, he thought remorsefully.  
  
Joey sniffed, trying to make the tears stop falling. He didn't want his children to see their daddy crying. But this only made them fall faster. Joey shuddered and prayed he could stay quiet.  
  
He felt a small hand resting on his shoulder. Joey quickly brushed away his tears with the back of his hand. He looked up and saw his children looking down at him; concerned expressions on their faces; chubby cheeks blushed in natural color and shiny eyes that matched the color of their mother's. He stood and took their hands, leading them away from the spot that reminded him of the first true love he had had, and had lost.  
  
Without a word, the family of four climbed into their car and drove away.  
  
-----  
  
When Joey had lost Marion, he had become violently depressed, cursing himself for not being able to help her. Chandler and Ross tried taking him out for dinner at least once a week after she had died. But he sat sullenly, deep in thought (or so it would appear) the whole time as Ross and Chandler made futile attempts at conversation. It seemed to them that they would never get back the old Joey that was funny without meaning to be, the one that they loved like a brother.  
  
Monica tried to make him feel better by making and sending over cookies and cakes, and of course sandwiches. But Joey refused to eat, and grew thinner and thinner. He stayed in bed for hours, just staring at the ceiling and thinking. He slept in his clothes and hardly changed, only when they would force him to go out with them.  
  
  
  
One day, Chandler had come over with more of Monica's homemade snacks, hoping he could get Joey to eat at least one cookie. He went into Joey's bedroom to try to find him, but he wasn't there. He called out for Joey, a faint glimmer of hope that maybe Joey had gone out to eat or to get a newspaper or something, anything to get him out of the apartment.  
  
He heard some shuffling in the bathroom, and Joey managed to croak out Chandler's name. Chandler, sensing something was wrong, hurried in. Joey lay propped up against the shower door, blood on his wrists.  
  
Chandler gasped, feeling his heart stop. Joey had tried to kill himself.  
  
"Oh my god," was all Chandler could manage. Joey had tears in his eyes as he looked up at Chandler.  
  
"I tried," he sobbed. "I couldn't do it, Chandler. I couldn't do it," Joey repeated. "I just miss her so much."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
The family that was Phoebe and Joey's drove quickly back to their modest home, right across the street from that of Dr. Ross Gellar and Mrs. Rachel Gellar, and next door to that was the home of Monica and Chandler Bing. Somehow they had all ended up with each other.  
  
After Emma was born, Ross had proposed to Rachel, and they had gotten married. They had Emma, who was now ten years old and on her way to being a spunky, tomboyish teenager, and their eight year old son Danny.  
  
Monica and Chandler had found out, after trying for two years, that they couldn't have children. So a year after that, they adopted a little girl named Maggie. If you looked at them, you couldn't even tell that Maggie wasn't their real daughter. Monica had been able to buy her own restaurant, and Chandler was still happy at his old job.  
  
Phoebe unlocked the door, and Chester and Shelia ran inside to go and play with their toys. Joey slowly followed her inside. She wrapped her arms around him and stroked his hair softly.  
  
"Are you all right?" she asked, concerned for her husband. Joey sighed.  
  
"I guess so, but it's still as hard as it was when we started bringing the kids here," Joey admitted. Phoebe smiled sadly.  
  
"Joey, that's all right, and it's okay if you still love her. I know you always will. Don't worry about it. She's probably looking down on you right now, and she'd be glad you've moved on as best you could," Phoebe tried to comfort him. He pulled away from her gently.  
  
"Yeah," he managed to agree softly, a minute later. "I love you, Phoebe," Joey said with a small smile.  
  
"I love you too, Joey," Phoebe said, smiling back.  
  
--------------------  
  
Weeeeeell, what'd you think? Should I keep my day job? Sorry if I screwed the story up for anybody. I was just thinking that I had an idea for a closing thing. It was bugging me. ^__^ Have a nice day.  
  
See Ya Later, Alligator!  
  
After awhile, Crocodile!  
  
Skye Rocket 


End file.
